Canal-dredger.



No. 725,409. PATENTED APR. 14, 1903.

E. GH'AQUETTE. CANAL DREDGER.

APPLICATION FILED D30. 28, 1901. 7

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ATTO/fA/fy No. 725,409, PATENTED APR. 14, 1903. E. GHAQUETTE.

CANAL DREDGER.

APPLIOATION FILED DEQ. 28, 1901.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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No. 725,409. PATENTED APR. 14, 1903.

E. GHAQUETTE. CANAL DREDGER.

APPLIGATION FILED DBO. 28, 1901.

N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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UNITED S ATE ENT owes.

'EPHRAIEM OHAQUETTE, onNnw ROCHELL NEW YORK. 1

; CANALQ-D'REDG ER.

SPECIFIC ATION'forming part of Letters Patent No. vaaeoauatea April 14, 1903.

Application filed December 2811901. berial No,8'7,543. (No model.) i I I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EPHRAIEM OHAoUErrn,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Rochelle,countyof Westchester,State' of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Canal-Dredgers, of

which the following is a specification.

, Myinvention relates to that classof canal dredgers in which the dredging apparatus is carried on a movable bridge or platform somewhat longer than thewidth of the trench or canal to be excavated and which is moved bodily lengthwise ofthecanal as occasion requires.

angles to the line of feed. This way of dredging is subject to great disadvantages, ne'

disadvantagebeing that the individual cuts or scoops made by the dredge are in the na ture'of holes or pockets which are apt tobe disconnected from each other. Unless the feedingmotion. is accurately adjusted to the ing too far or waste motion occurs by over-;

lapping if fed too little'.- Q To overcome this and other objections, my inventionlconsists,

canal or trenchby the apparatus a shallow primarily, of a canal-dredgercomposed of a longitudinally slotted bridge extending I I I to receive the part of theframework dependacross thecanal provided with mechanism whereby thebridge maybe movedl'engthwise ofthe canal and adredgingapparatus carried on saidbridge and operating through said longitudinal slot and provided with mechanism whereby said dredging apparatusis fed constantly forward in said slot during the cutting operation, whereby a continuous. strip of material of uniform width maybe cut for the full width of the canal.

When occasion requires, two or more (1 red ging apparatus may be mounted side by side or otherwise, so asto operate in the longitudinal slot, and thereby economy of labor effected by makingthe cut o f double width or with greater speed before the position of the bridge has to be changed for a how out.

One application ofmy invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top view. of the bridge without the dredging apparatus and showing the delivery ends of. the bridgedetached, the left-hand delivery apparatus being above and the right-,hand ldelivery apparatus below the centralfigure. Fig. 2 is a side elevation,

"thedelivery' apparatus of each end being broken off and the outer endof thedelivery apparatus at one side being shown detached.

i Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the dredgingapparatns on a larger scale, showinga single dredge.

different figures.

.A represents the canal or trench, which is fusual'l y excavated dry, but maybe excavated we t, if desired. This canal ispreferably' so cut as to have a horizontal bottom. a, with inclined side banks 17b, the upper portion of which may be reinforced by the brickwork am'e letters indicate similar parts inthe c 0. On each side of the'canalis the tread- I surface dd,fup on which a track e'e is laid, and along the track the vbridge isdrawn to 'form constantly-new sections of the canal.

The excavated material may be deposited,.as I

hereinafter described, so as to form the protective banksff, if desired.

B is-the bridge, which stretches across the canaland is composed of strong framework mounted upon the trucksg g, adaptedto run uponthe tracks ,e e.

twill be understood that in order to dig a excavation of required width and deep enough ing below the trucks g gis made by ordinary I laborers or otherwise and the tracks ee laid It willalso be inadv ance of the apparatus. understood that to provide a continuousconstruction of the canal along the route surveyed this preliminary marking, digging-and track-laying should always have sufficient lead over the canal-'dredger not to interfere with its progressand'that after the dredger has passed a given point the track may beremoved. I It will alfsoflbe understood that the brick-work c 0 may also be erected inadvance of the dredger, if desired. 1 y

, The bridge B is providedwith a longitndi-- nal slot or opening 0, which extends substantially the full width of the canal to be dug. Two feeding devices D Dare provided, each of which consists of a car sliding on rollers .72' h and extending substantiallyhalf the length of the bridge B. These cars carry an a supporting-bracket m, the upper partof endless apron 2', held up by the rollers h h and turned by the drum jj under the control of the motor 7.; 76, carried upon the car.

The apron or belt 1) receives the excavated material from the dumping-apron and discharges it at the side of the canal to form the bank f. One bank is formed by one of the cars 'and the opposite bank by the opposite car. \Vhen the cars are inboard, as shown in Fig. 1, they are out of operation. As soon as the apparatus begins to operate the car D on that half of the bridge on which the dredge happens to be at the time is thrust forward, so that the end of the car overhangs the end of the bridge, and can therefore discharge the excavated material to begin the formation of the bank f. As the bank grows it becomes necessary for the car D to move farther and farther out. To support its outer end, therefore, the bridge is provided with a supporting-arm E, held up by the rope Z, which passes over the upright F, secured 'to the bridge. The forward end of the car D is provided, as shown in the detached portion of Fig. 2, with which is equipped with rollers adapted to movealong said arm. By this means the car is supported until it reaches the end of its outward motion, as shown at the left of Fig. 2. The forward-and-back motion of the car D is accomplished from the motor it through the pinion n driven thereby and meshing with the rack 0. t

The excavated material is received by the apron of the car D from another apron, as follows: Two dumping-aprons G Gare provided, each extending substantially half the length of the bridge, turned by the drumsjj under the control of the motor mounted upon the bridge and adapted to operate either or both of said drums. These aprons Gare supported during the upper or feeding portion of their path by the rollers 71 journaled in the framework of the bridge and, having a slight decline toward the end of the bridge, are always in position to discharge the excavated material conveyed by them upon the apron of the corresponding dumping-car D, whether the latter is inboard or outboard. Above these aprons is mounted the dredging apparatus H, supported on and carried by the truck or dredge-carriage p, which moves along the rack q under the control of the motor k in the way previously described for the tnotor 70. This motor it also serves to'raise and lower the dredging apparatus carried on said truck. There may be a single truck or dredge-carriage, in which case it moves the entire length of the slot 0, discharging on one of the aprons G G during one half its travel and the other during the other half, or two trucks may be provided, each carrying a dredging apparatus,

in which case both banks ff may be formed at the same time by discharging the excavated material from both dredges simultanel ously each upon its appropriate apron.

Whether one dredge-carriage or more is used it may carry a single dredge, as shown in Fig. 3, or a double dredge, as shown in Fig. 2. In the latter case the equipoise is best preserved by having one dredge descend as the other ascends.

.The specific form of dredge to be used in my improved canal-dredger is immateriahias it may be a bucket-dredge apparatus or a clam-dredge or any other form which can rise and descend through the slot 0 and at the same time be fed forward longitudinally of said slot.

In the drawings I have selected the clamdredge for the purpose of illustration, the clamsM M being shown in end elevation in the right half of Fig. '2 and in side elevation in the left half. These clams are supported from the pulleys s s by the ropes Z Z and are raised and lowered, as before stated, by the motors 70 The clams may be of any'well-knownand usual construction or may be of the form de.

scribed in my pending application, Serial No. 82,997, filed November 20, 1901', and need not, therefore, be more fully described here.

I claim-- a 1. The abovedescribed canal-d red ger which consists of a longitudinally-slotted bridge adapted to extend across a canal and provided with mechanism whereby the bridge may be moved lengthwise of the canal; a dredging apparatus carried on said bridge and operating through said longitudinal slot; mechan' ism whereby said dredging apparatus is fed constantly forward in said slot during the cutting operation; a pair of traveling aprons mounted on cars and adapted to receive the excavated material and means whereby said cars are moved outboard and inboard at opposite ends of said bridge.

2. The above-described canal-dredger which consists of a longitudinally-slotted bridge adapted to extend acrossa canal and. provided with mechanism whereby the bridge may be moved lengthwise ot' the canal; a dredging apparatus carried on said bridge and operating through said longitudinal slot; mechanism whereby said dredging apparatus is fed constantly forward in said slot during the cutting operation; a pair of dumping-aprons IIIO extending lengthwise of said bridge, and i adapted to receive the excavated material from said dredging apparatus and convey the same to opposite ends of said bridge; a pair of traveling aprons mounted on cars on said bridge belowsaid dumping-aprons and means whereby said cars are moved outboard and inboard at opposite ends of said bridge and caused to discharge at varying distances therefrom the excavated material received from said dumpingaprons.

EPI-IRAIEM CHAQUETTE.

Witnesses:

C. E. DAVENPORT, W. P. PREBLE, Jr. 

